Provender

Time Out says

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4 out of 5 stars

Time Out says

4 out of 5 stars

This modish bistro in leafy suburban Wanstead has locals flocking to savour its take on the Gallic greats served brasserie hours.

When a brisk ‘have you booked?’ on a midweek night causes minor panic, a restaurant is getting it right. This modish bistro in a leafy suburb is packing ’em in with its take on the Gallic greats served brasserie hours. From breakfast to lunch deals and set menus, the carte encompasses everything from croque monsieur to charcuterie and rillettes, oysters and cassoulet, salads and grills presented in handsome 1930s style.

For a selection of great starters, mix keenly priced casse-croûtes such as grass-green tapenade, radishes and aïoli with pricier entrées like stuffed mussels. If they took a while to arrive, it’s because celeriac was being freshly grated into an elegant tangle for the remoulade, and slices of skinny baguette were being toasted to accompany spiced aubergine paired with a perky red pepper relish in imam biyaldi. From the linen tea towel napkins to the potato and rosemary buns with the burger, the ordinary is improved on, and conviction shines through in best of British and French ingredients: Blythburgh pork and ham, Welsh mussels, Boulogne herrings, Normandy butter.

Mains came with a warning about hot plates. Steak-frites may be a speciality, but vegetarians shouldn’t feel hard done by. Griddled asparagus, mushroom duxelles in puff pastry with hollandaise and a perfectly boiled egg with dazzlingly golden yolk was a gloriously rewarding dish. Meringue with passionfruit and coconut ice-cream made a triumphant ending. The all-French wine list kicks off with aperitifs and ends with Monbazillac. Don’t leave it to chance. Book.

unassuming and classy space with a menu that covers all french regions and decisively nails everything i have ever eaten there. was good as ANY french style restaurant i have been to in london and i have been to a fair few. GO THERE

My best friend took me here to celebrate the anniversary of me moving to London (which at that time was a year previous). What a fabulous place. The ambiance is great - a buzzing atmosphere, filled with people having a good time and enjoying was looked to be delicious food. Good thing we had made a booking - it was packed, and it was a Thursday evening, relatively early!

We sampled the escargots, bread and butter, Moroccan tagine, chicken cocotte and a great cheese board. Everything was freshly prepared, very flavourful and pleasing to the eye. The wine pairings were fantastic as well - my friend knows a thing or two about wine and made some good choices, although to be honest, I'm not sure you could make a bad one with a wine list like that! I would definitely recommend a visit here to anyone who likes classic French cooking served in a no-fuss way by French speakers ;)

What a fantastic all-round experience a great lunch,the highlight, fresh shellfish that what probably the best of tasted on these shores and chef who knows his stuff,attentive but not over bearing service. Taste which is often overlooked in so many eateries these days was plentiful from starters to desserts would highly recommend a visit I will be back for sure.

A wonderful early Sunday lunch with my sister and husband, both who have been here before and rave about their local bistro, the food was just exemplary with a very interesting varied choice, highlights was my sublime lobster thermidor, the soft boiled quail eggs with mushrooms was divine, for mains we had one each of the roasts - all were excellent fluffy crisp roast potatoes, individual vegetables pots gravy, horseradish. to finish the sherry trifle & pear sorbet with brandy hit the spot. The atmosphere was buzzy, service was professional, attentive and friendly. I wished I lived closer, I would be a regular like my sister

My husband took me and our twins for having a great timeout in
provender reastaurante, was a wonderful place and the incomparable atmosphere. all the staff were very attentive and polite. they have games and activities for children.
We ate Sunday roast very well prepared and tasty also eat the best French fries.
We will recommend it to friends and family.

We went to provenda restaurant yesterday to celebrate my birthday and the waiter and waitress was so attentive and very polite They really made us feel nice in there.
Me and my husband and my littler girl ate the best burger ever it was so tasty delicious .
And they are so kind and nice with my littler girl they have coloring book and color pencil , we find that so nice she did have fun there.
Would definitely go back for dinner and recommend to friends and family

One of the worst nights spent in a restaurant at Provender. Terrible almost rude service. dry and tasteless food... they can't even make chips taste good - we actually spat them out they were so bad. Left hungry having sent everything back. Never again.

My wife and I went to Provender for our wedding anniversary and were bitterly disappointed. The atmosphere and service were impersonal, the food extremely average and the bill a little high even if the meal had been outstanding. I had the scallops as a started and they were slightly underdone and tasteless, my wife had duck for main which was well cooked but too little of it (it was also rather swamped with jus). The steak I had for main was pretty ropey, again slightly underdone (I asked for medium rare not blue, it was also grisly and took quite a bit of elbow grease to cut) accompanied by dauphinoise potatoes that were far too watery with not even a hint of garlic. Overall the food was fairly tasteless, bland and overpriced. We will not be going back. Lastly, when we had paid and were leaving not one of the 4 waiters standing round thanked us or opened the door, pretty basic service stuff. This restaurant is neither bistro nor fine dining, avoid it.

Unfortunately this restaurant sells foie gras. The production of foie gras is very cruel and causes great suffering to ducks and geese. It is so cruel that the production of foie gras has been banned in the UK.
Foie gras (fatty liver) is produced by force feeding ducks or geese huge amounts of food so that their livers swell painfully to up to ten times their normal size. This is done by pumping large quantities of corn and fat directly into their stomachs via a funnel, up to four times a day for up to 18 days; this causes the birds great suffering. The diseased livers of the ducks and geese are then sold as “high class” cuisine – foie gras.
I hope that Provender will stop selling this cruel product so people could enjoy their food without been concerned about animal welfare issues.

Just been to Provender in Wanstead for lunch. The menu was extensive for a local town and the food delicious. Someone on next table had the hamburger on rosemary bread which she said was brilliant. Try the shellfish cocktail with crayfish for a light meal of starter. Everything from a light lunch to full blown cuisine. The atmosphere and staff were great. Would definitely go back for dinner and recommend to friends and family.

A delight. Proper traditional french food using excellent ingredients with some modern twists. Great value wine list. A fab local for those of us lucky enough to live nearby, but worth a trip out East if you're further afield.

Goodness, this has only been open for two weeks and already it's virtually full! I went in the mid afternoon on Saturday and it was full of people obviously having a great time. I had a seafood salad which had spanking fresh langoustine tails and then the ballotine of chicken. My husband had the quails eggs with mushroom duxelle and then a sirloin steak. Really delicious food, very nicely served in stylish and welcoming circumstances. Good wine list at good prices. Welcome back Max!